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Judge Hawkins pleads to stay on the job

Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat
12:04 a.m. EDT July 15, 2014

Judge Judith Hawkins, center, and her attorney, Gerald Kogan, left, speak with the opposing attorney during Hawkins's trial before a panel of the Florida Judicial Qualification Commission in Tallahassee on Oct. 7, 2013.
Michael Schwarz/Special to the Democrat Judge Judith Hawkins, center, and her attorney, Gerald Kogan, left, speak with the opposing attorney during Hawkins's trial before a panel of the Florida Judicial Qualification Commission in Tallahassee, Fla on Monday, October 7, 2013.(Photo: Michael Schwarz, Michael Schwarz/Special to the Democrat)

Leon County Judge Judith Hawkins is pleading with the Florida Supreme Court to keep her on the bench after she was found guilty of judicial-misconduct charges.

The Judicial Qualifying Commission in January recommended Hawkins be publicly reprimanded and suspended for 90 days and pay a fine of $17,000 after she was found guilty of using her office to promote her ministry, Gaza Road Ministries. But the Supreme Court in June ordered her to show cause why she should not face the most severe penalty — removal from office.

Hawkins responded Monday in a 15-page court filing, which she wrote in the first person because, she said in the document, “It is my plea to the court to not deny me the privilege and honor of fulfilling my assignment to serve and commitment to the role, purpose and function of a county court judge, duly elected and re-elected by the citizens of Leon County.”

“To remove me from the Leon County bench deprives the citizens who elected me, the litigants who appear before me and the attorneys who practice in my courtroom of a dedicated judge,” she wrote. “I have kept my pledge to use my experience before and after becoming a judge to deal justly and fairly; even-handedly and impartially; consistently and orderly with all the matters submitted for my consideration and disposition.”

Hawkins, first elected in 1996, says in the court filing that she will not run for re-election. Her seat comes up for election in 2018.

In the court filing, Hawkins reminisced about her parents, her childhood and even her first “severe spanking,” which she said she received from her mother “because I did not tell the truth about something I had done. Inner truth was valued above outward compliance.”

With the high court threatening to remove her from office, Hawkins’ response is much more detailed and impassioned than the one-sentence reply her lawyer made in February to the initial filing by the JQC’s final report and recommendations. In that instance, her attorney, former Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan of Coconut Grove wrote only, “Respondent, Judge Judith W. Hawkins, by and through under-signed counsel, hereby files her response stating, that the Respondent does not contest the reports recommendations.”

The JQC charged Hawkins in December 2012 and added new charges in June 2013, all related to her side ministry business. The charges fell under five broad categories: use of her office to promote a private business, failure to respect and comply with the law, failure to act in a manner promoting public confidence in the judiciary, failure to devote full attention to judicial office and lack of candor with the JQC.

The commission, which held a three-day hearing in the case in October, found her guilty of selling and offering to sell ministry products in the courthouse to lawyers and employees, promoting the sale of the products on her website that included photos of her in judicial robes and using her judicial assistant to promote the sale of ministry products.

The JQC also found her guilty of failing to comply with with state tax laws when selling ministry products, misleading investigators, reading magazines during court proceedings and using less than her full time for judicial duties.

In her filing with the Supreme Court, Hawkins wrote that her position as a county judge affords her the opportunity to hear about and respond to the challenges people face on a daily basis.

“They range from small matters, e.g., unpaid debts, to major life-changing issues, e.g., domestic batteries,” she wrote. “Hearing the legalities of the matter is one part of my responsibility in serving as judge. The other part focuses on listening for silent pleas from defendants to help them turn their lives around.

“Even with nearly 18 years of service,” she continued, “I still find it refreshing when a wayward youth understands the importance of earning an education or a woman learns she has rights to protect herself and her children from an abusive partner or an individual charged with DUI grasps the reality of a substance abuse problem and possible injuries or deaths.”

Hawkins wrote that there is a difference between errors of the mind and of the heart.

“This case is about errors of the mind, not of the heart,” she said. “The allegations did not include any intentional injustice toward litigants; ... nor were there allegations of inappropriate use of office or power for personal advantage.”